I would not be surprised if after hearing the first few words of today’s Gospel you may have said to yourself “I’ve heard that story many times”. Maybe you even finished it in your mind before I got to the end. It is a familiar story, and along with that of the Parable Son one of the greatest and most loved in the New Testament. But our Lord is repeating it to us this morning and He wants to hear it with new ears and hearts. It is important because it is about “gaining eternal life”. This is not a story about the past. It’s about today and it is about you and me. We are somewhere in this story. We are one of the characters.
The local of this parable is the road between Jericho and Jerusalem, a dangerous one. It has twists and turns and places where muggers can hide. It is symbolic of the world in where violence can easily happen. Our world today is a world where there are many victims. They are people who have been robbed by greedy, selfish individuals, or by governments and corporations. The violence done may be physical, verbal or emotional. The latter may be more common in our circles; putting people down with our sarcasm or silent treatment. Or it may be by refusing to offer forgiveness. There are many ways of putting people down and leaving them for half dead. Are we in some way victimizers?
It is possible that we do not see ourselves as using really any kind of violence towards others. But we might be one of those symbolized by the priest in this story. His religion consists mostly in knowledge of holy things and ceremonies. But at the same time his heart is cold and stony. He’s got to get to the church on time so he can give God glory and fulfill his religious duty. He sees the victim, but “passes by.” Or we may be the Levite, a church- goer and maybe even involved in church ministry. But he, too, is part of what Pope Francis today speaks of as the “globalization of indifference” a passerby who sees but is indifferent, one whose sin is omission.
That bring us to finally to the Samaritan, a foreigner who happens to be traveling on this road and sees the victim not only with his eyes but he feels for him in his heart, with what Jesus described as “compassion.” He puts himself at risk by stopping and goes out of his way to do all that he can to help. He has oil and wine which maybe he was going to sell. But rather than use them for his profit, he uses them on the assaulted man. He goes way beyond that. He puts him on his own animal, sees that he has a safe place to recover and pays for his keep until his wounds are healed. This is Jesus description of “Neighbor” of who all of us should be. By describing the Samaritan as neighbor not the victim, Jesus really makes his point. We are to be neighbors not only have neighbors.
Can the meaning be any clearer? This is not just a story. It is a command from Jesus “Go and do likewise,” These words are made more compelling by the fact that you and I were once victims, victims of our own doing and Jesus came to our rescue. He is the Good Samaritan par excellance. He was compassionate when He took to the road as it were by becoming one of us in order to rescue us so that we could gain eternal life. By our baptism we became one with him and like him, we are to be compassionate, to be neighbors and do what we can for the victims that come across our paths.
We really don’t have to look far for those who need our help and healing. Some are very close – members of our family or circle of friends, people who need our time or our forgiveness or presence when they are down and out in some way. The symbolic road from Jerusalem to Jericho today is very near to us and very wide with a many victims. Yes, we can help them today by praying for them. But there are times when we need to be involved. I know how frustrating it can be when we see so much need and so many victims in our society and be told we must act.. But think about this. The Good Samaritan did what he could; he had the oil to sooth wounds, he had the wine to stimulate the victim, he had a horse, he had money. He did what he could. That is what God expects of us, to do what we can with what he has generously gifted us. Let us pray that we may go from here glorifying God by being neighbors, not passersby’.